


Post-Canon, But The Science Team Are Overly-Intelligent Shimejis On Gordon's Computer

by Texeoghea (orphan_account)



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self-Aware
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Compliant, Canon Continuation, I Think- Canon's Already So Goddamned Weird, Post-Canon, Shimejis, Yeah we're doing this, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23772628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Texeoghea
Summary: After hearing Dr Coomer’s message, asking him to save them, Gordon downloads the data files onto a hard drive. It’s all he can think to do; he’s not actually a doctor, after all. And if the characters really are self-aware and sentient, then if he can save them in their states at the end of the VR game, maybe he can somehow keep them alive?It works a little too well.
Relationships: Dr. Coomer/Dr. Bubby (Implied)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 178





	Post-Canon, But The Science Team Are Overly-Intelligent Shimejis On Gordon's Computer

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, new fandom! Here's me!
> 
> not planning on adding anything to this, sorry. if you'd like to chat about it, thogh, i'm @texeoghea on tumblr and twitter as well!

He hadn’t done it immediately. 

As soon as the simulation ended, he pulled off his headset, laid on the floor, and cried. After a few minutes of that, he checked the time. It was an hour after he’d first put on the headset. The same day. The sun had barely moved in the sky.

Had any of that been real? It had felt real. The pain had felt real. Being shot, bitten, exploded, falling from absurd heights, losing his _arm_ , getting a _minigun as a replacement_ …

Dr. Coomer’s words rang in his head again. Gordon sighed, pressing a hand- his right hand, which he had, still, it was firmly attached to his arm- against his face. If those stupid bastards were really sentient, and needed to be saved, then it was up to him to do it, wasn’t it?

“Those fuckers better be grateful,” he grumbled, opening the game file on his computer and clicking around. The files were jumbled, almost incoherent at times, but eventually, he found the AI files. He downloaded the source code to a hard drive- he wasn’t a _real_ scientist, man, give him a break.

From there, he tried to open the files directly from the hard drive. He’s not really sure what he expected to happen. A pop up message? A windows error? With his luck, the whole thing should have crashed instantly. But seeing little versions of the low-polygon demons that he’d spent both an hour and multiple days of mind-bending gameplay with just… _appear_ on his desktop, talking through his speakers and wandering around messing with his web browsers and tabs like it was normal, Gordon started wondering if he went crazy as soon as he put on that headset.

“Hello, Gordon!” Dr. Coomer chirped happily. “I see you managed to save us from the cold, unrelenting grip of the void!”

“You’re- damn, it worked,” Gordon said, genuinely shocked. “Uh, how are you guys?” he asked, watching Tommy sprint around his desktop. Bubby was busily rearranging things, muttering to himself. “Gordon, where are we?” Dr. Coomer asked. 

“On my computer, my laptop,” Gordon said. “Hey, can I…” he clicked on the miniature Dr. Coomer, then dragged his cursor up, trying to lift the scientist. 

“Augh! Gordon, unhand me!” Dr. Coomer cried, thrashing. Gordon let go of the mouse, dropping Coomer back to the bottom of the screen. “Really, Gordon, how rude!” Dr. Coomer scolded him.

“Man, you guys really are here, in my computer,” Gordon said, mystified. “Which means…” he sat back. “Did we actually kill an eldritch horror by destroying digital passports?”

“Benrey is unkillable, Gordon!” Bubby replied. Gordon stared at his computer blankly. “Yeah, I am… well aware. But we- we beat him. Right?”

Dr. Coomer stared silently at him. “Dr. Coomer,” Gordon said nervously, “We _beat_ Benrey, didn’t we?”

“Evil can never be truly defeated, Dr. Freeman,” Coomer said, his voice low. Gordon began regretting downloading three faulty AIs to his computer. 

“Okay- fine, granted. But he’s not with you guys, we can say that, right? I didn’t accidentally download him as well?”

“Oh, if he was here, you would know, Dr. Freeman,” Bubby laughed. Gordon sighed. “Okay. Cool- Tommy, what are you- what are you _doing_ over there, man?” There were .jpeg files of a golden retriever popping up everywhere Tommy ran. 

“Sunkist is giving birth!” Tommy cried joyfully. 

Gordon gaped. “In my fucking computer?! _Dude!”_ He began selecting and deleting them as they popped up. “I didn’t even download Sunkist- what the fuck, there’s so many…”

“Sunkist reproduces asexually, Gordon,” Dr. Coomer supplied helpfully, from where he and Bubby had taken refuge sitting on the Chrome icon at the top of the page. Tommy had run into Gordon’s other screen (he liked to think his dual-screen setup was cool), and was populating the entire surface area with dog .jpegs.

“Tommy, dude, I’m begging you to stop,” Gordon said desperately. The dogs were multiplying too fast for him to select and delete them all without risking deleting Tommy too. “I-I’m not doing this, Mister Freeman,” Tommy said, “Sunkist is! I’m trying to- to stop him from filling up your hard drive!”

“God, I’m gonna fucking die at thirty because of you three,” Gordon yelled. “Tommy, go to the other screen, don’t let Sunkist follow you.”

“What are you going to do, Mister Freeman?” Tommy asked nervously. Gordon took a deep breath, selecting the entire secondary screen. “Whatever I have to,” he said, and hit delete. The dogs disappeared. The screen was clear. The evil had, for the moment, been defeated.

“No, Sunkist!” Tommy screamed, running back. Gordon picked him up, gently pulling him over to the other scientists. “Sorry, buddy,” he said. “I’m not much of a dog person- oh my god.”

Another dog .jpeg had appeared, bouncing stiffly upwards until it stood next to Tommy. It was taller than all three of the scientists. “Sunkist!” Tommy exclaimed happily, hugging the dog.

“Miracles _can_ exist,” Bubby proclaimed happily. He and Dr. Coomer embraced.

“I’m going to have to live with you chaotic motherfuckers for the rest of my life now,” Gordon realized, putting his head in his hands. “I just damned my own soul to a life of torment. What the fuck have I done?”

“You _just_ said you damned your own soul to a life of torment,” Dr. Coomer said. “Are you feeling alright, Dr. Freeman?”

Gordon laid his head on his desk. “I’m not even a doctor,” he whispered sadly. “I’m not an engineer… I’m not qualified to deal with this.”

At least his life would certainly be more interesting until the quarantine lifted.


End file.
